Jael

Jael was a Kenite woman who killed the Canaanite commander Sisera, fulfilling the prophecy that the victory over him would go to a woman (Judges 4:9). After Sisera's army was routed by Barak and fled, Sisera sought refuge in Jael's tent. She welcomed him, gave him milk, covered him with a blanket, and while he slept, drove a tent peg through his temple with a hammer, killing him (Judges 4:17–22). Her act is celebrated extravagantly in Deborah's victory song as the culminating action of deliverance: 'Most blessed of women be Jael... between her feet he sank, he fell, he lay still' (Judges 5:24–27). Interpretively she is both celebrated as a heroine of Israel and subject to ethical scrutiny for violating the ancient laws of hospitality.